Carol, Part 2 - Pets

"A turtle, maybe?"
"Don't be an idiot, Leea."
"What?"
"Turtles aren't exactly Christmas animals."
"And none of us has a turtle, so we couldn't have one even if they were."
"Well, what are you suggesting? A donkey on stage? None of us has one of those either," Leea crosses her arms in defence. She's a small but fierce girl, more stubborn than anyone I've ever met. She brushes a strand of chocolate-color hair off her face absent-mindedly.
"Tony has a bunny," I say, joining the conversation, and sip my hot chocolate, "I'm sure he'd let us use it."
"A bunny? How's that any more Christmas-y than a turtle?"
I shrug. My and Nick stare at me for a moment, as if expecting some answer.
"Do we even need to have an animal on the stage?" My asks with her beautiful voice after a moment of silence. It's always nice to listen to her talk. Even nicer to listen to her sing. "After all, it's about the singing, isn't it? We're trying to do things too hard."
"It would be something new," Nick points out.
"None of us has any pets we could use," Leea says, "Unless you want to have a jar of fish there. Or Tony's bunny."
Nick sighs.
"I agree with My," I say, "We can make a special show even without animals. Let's write our own Christmas carol. That would be new."
"We can't write a new song," Nick says, "The whole point of Christmas carols is that everyone knows them and can sing along."
"No it isn't," Leea makes a face at Nick, "The point is to create the right kind of mood."
"But..."
"Ok, I already know this conversation is going nowhere," My interrupts.
"And we've spent ages talking about this animals on stage thing," I say, checking my watch, "Which means that Tony's going to be picking me up in ten minutes. Anyone need a ride home?"
"You can't go yet," Leea says, looking disappointed, "We haven't agreed on anything yet."
"I know, I've been here the whole time," I tell her, like she wouldn't know it without saying, "But I have all this school work I need to do for next week. And besides, it doesn't look like we're going to agree on anything today, so how about we all go home, and think this whole pets and new songs -thing over, and we'll catch up tomorrow and talk about it. I know we only have a few weeks to get the show together, but I think one day won't kill us."
The others make noises of agreement, and I nod to myself.
"Honestly though, I really do think we could write a new song. Weave some magic into it."
The others look at me while I drink the rest of my chocolate.
"Hmm," Leea says. "I think I'd like to try to make a new song. I mean, it is risky. We might screw the whole show up completely because of this. But I think I'd like to try."
I nod and get up.
"Anyway, I do need to go now. You guys sure you don't need a ride?" I ask while pulling on my jacket.
"Yep," My grins. I smile back. "We'll see you tomorrow."
"Ok. Bye," I wave at them and head towards the door. I'm half way through the room, when I hear my name in a hushed sentence, spoken by one of my friends. I almost turn back and ask what they're talking about me.
Instead I just step out of the coffee shop. There's already a few centimetres of snow on the ground.

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Wait. Is this going to be a non-fantasy story? Because I'm not sure I know how to do one of those.

Another, more practical thing. If you could do me the favour. On Friday, please write your bit of the story early in the day. I will be busy from maybe seven on Friday evening until late afternoon on Sunday, which means I really won't have the time (or maybe the possibility) to write anything on Saturday. So I'd like to write that ready on Friday afternoon.
If you could be so nice. If you can't, I suppose I'll have to figure out a way to make it possible for me to write on Saturday.

Anyway. You're topic for tomorrow is Dreams.

~matu